Does '!=' equivelent to 'is not'

[Lie]

On Jun 18, 12:32 pm, Terry Reedy <tjre... at udel.edu> wrote:
> >> Saying a flat "no" alone, without qualifying your statement is
> >> generally interpreted as rude in English...  It's kind of like how you
> >> talk to children when they're too young to understand the explanation.
> >> Yucky.
>
> > I didn't meant to be rude at all - and I apologize to Mr. Lie. The
> > explanation for such strong "No" was in the paragraph below it (the idea
> > was to say: "No to this, yes to that")
>
> As a very much native English speaker I disagree that 'No' is
> necessarily rude.  I wish I could more often get such a clean answer to
> my questions from my child.

I'm not a native English speaker, although I think my parents would
have liked me to be more straightforward when talking, cause I tend to
say things like "possibly", "maybe", "probably", and other ambiguous
expressions to the extent that it has frustrated them now and then.